Gasket seat cleaning tool

ABSTRACT

A TOOL FOR CLEANING THE ANNULAR GASKET-SEATING GROOVE IN A CYLINDRICAL OPENING IN AN AIR COUPLING MEMBER, WITH THE TOOL HAVING A RECESSED BODY WITH A CYLINDRICAL FRONT PILOT PART AND A REAR HANDLE PART, A WIRE BRUSH ASSEMBLY GUIDED FOR MOVEMENT IN THE BODY RECESS AND INCLUDING A WIRE BRUSH PROJECTING RADIALLY OUTWARDLY FROM THE PILOT PART AND RETRACTABLE THEREINTO, AND A PRELOADED SPRING IN THE BODY RECESS NORMALLY URGING THE BRUSH ASSEMBLY WITH ITS WIRE BRUSH INTO OUTWARD PROJECTION FROM THE PILOT PART OF THE TOOL BODY.

June 29, 1971 LUONGQ 3,588,939

GASKET SEAT CLEANING TOOL Filed Sept. 50, 1969 INVENI OR uv [M ATT RNUnited States Patent C 3,588,939 GASKET SEAT CLEANING TOOL Gerald L.Luongo, Deborah Lane, East Haven, Conn. 06512 Filed Sept. 30, 1969, Ser.No. 862,251 Int. Cl. A46b 7/02 US. Cl. 160 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A tool for cleaning the annular gasket-seating groove in acylindrical opening in an air coupling member, with the tool having arecessed body with a cylindrical front pilot part and a rear handlepart, a Wire brush assembly guided for movement in the body recess andincluding a wire brush projecting radially outwardly from the pilot partand retractable thereinto, and a preloaded spring in the body recessnormally urging the brush assembly with its wire brush into outwardprojection from the pilot part of the tool body.

This invention relates to gasket seat cleaning tools in general, and totools for cleaning gasket-seating grooves in vehicular air couplings inparticular.

The present invention is concerned with tools used especially, thoughnot exclusively, in cleaning the annular gasket-seating grooves invehicular air couplings such as are used between a trailer truck andcab, for example. The tools commonly used to this end are any of avariety of handy tools, such as screwdrivers or files which by somemechanics are bent so as more easily to reach into the gasket-seatinggrooves and clean them. These grooves are cleaned by scraping theirsides, and especially their bottoms where under the relatively highoperational air pressures dirt and other foreign matter accumulates andin time cakes into a fairly hard crust. Scraping such grooves in thisfashion will fairly clean the grooves only after prolonged and largelyblind scraping, for it is impossible to view more than the open top ofthe groove, and the mechanic will know that the groove is clean onlywhen his sense of touch tells him that the scraping tool he manipulatesno longer meets with any uneveness and glides on the groove walls withthat characteristic smoothness which the mechanic associates with aclean groove The task involved in cleaning such grooves is, therefore,time-consuming in any event, and also requires some measure of dexteritywhich some mechanics either lack or fail to exercise in which case thegroove walls are not restored to their smooth finish and a new insertedgasket in the groove may buckle in consequence and cause air leakagewhen the coupling is connected and subjected to compressed air.

There have also become known some special tools for the purpose ofcleaning such grooves. These special tools have in common a handle witha radially movable cutter or cutters which on projection into a grooveare turned to cut the latter clean. However, these special tools havenever found favor with mechanics, and insofar as is known none of thesetools are being used, the apparent reason being that the cutters eitherfail at times to remove harder crusted matter, or if removing all suchmatter will at times out into the groove itself and thereby provide aleakage path.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide for cleaningthe annular gasket groove in standard coupling parts a tool of a typehaving a body removably insertable into a coupling part for rotarysupport therein and carrying a radially movable scraper projectible intoand from the gasket groove, and when projecting into this groove beingself-forming into substantial form-fit therewith and engaging the grooveWalls with adequate force reliably to clean the groove down to its barewalls on turning the tool body by manipulation of a part thereof outsidethe coupling part.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a tool of thistype in which the scraper is in the form of a wire brush which by aspring is normally projected radially outwardly on the body. With thisarrangement, the wire brush is advantageously dimensioned for readyprojection into a gasket groove, and the inherent characteristic of awire brush to respond to longitudinal compression in lateral outwardbulging of its wire bristles is made advantageous use of in compellingthe wire brush into substantial form-fit with all walls of the gasketgroove on subjection to the force of the spring which puts the brush inthe groove under longitudinal compression. Further, the spring may befairly powerful to insure that the substantially form-fitting wire brushin the groove will reliably clean the latter completely on a few turnsof the tool and, hence, in a very short time.

Further objects and advantages will appear to those skilled in the artfrom the following, considered in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

In the accompanying drawings, in which certain modes of carrying out thepresent invention are shown for illustrative purposes:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary section through a coupling part having a gasketseated in an annular groove;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a tool which embodies the present invention,with the tool being shown inserted in the same coupling part ready forcleaning the annular groove therein preparatory to reception of a newgasket;

F IG. 3 is a front view of the tool;

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the tool; and

FIG. 5 is a section through the tool taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 1 thereof, thereference numeral 10 designates one of two companion members of atypical standard air coupling between a trailer truck and cab foroperation of conventional air brakes on the trailer truck by theoperator in the cab. The coupling part or member 10 has a front face 12with a stepped cylindrical opening 14 which forms part of an air passage16 in the coupling member, and provided in the cylindrical opening 14 isthe usual annular groove 18 which serves as a seat for the gasket 20.The coupling member 10 may be carried by a cab, in which case itscompanion coupling member is carried by the trailer truck intended forthe cab, with this companion coupling member being quite similar to thecoupling member 10 and also carrying a gasket. In connecting thecompanion coupling members, they are placed front-face to front-face andgasket to gasket whereupon these members are locked together by theusual releasable locking means (not shown) provided on these members forthat purpose.

Owing to rather severe operational conditions, including subjection tofairly high operational air pressures, and further due to more or lessready exposure to dirt and other foreign matter as well as to theelements of the gaskets of non-connected coupling members onnon-connected cabs and trailer trucks, these gaskets deteriorate in arelatively short time and require replacement with a new gasket.However, hand-in-hand with deterioration of these gaskets goesaccumulation of dirt and other foreign matter in their seating groovesin the coupling members, with this accumulated matter usually caking intime into a fairly hard crust. Accordingly, in order to seat a newgasket properly so as to avoid a possible immediate air leakage patharound the gasket, it is imperative that the gasket seating grooves incoupling members are cleaned down to their bare walls before new gasketsmay be seated therein.

Reference is now had to FIGS. 2 to 5 which show a tool 22 for cleaningthe gasket seating grooves 18 in coupling members 10. The tool 22 hasfor its major components a body 24 and a wire brush assembly 26. Thetool body 24 has an axis x and a front pilot part 28 and a rear handlepart 31), of which the pilot port 28 is cylindrical, stepped in thisinstance, for insertion with a sliding fit into, and rotary support in,the cylindrical opening 14 in a coupling member (FIG. 2), while thehandle part 30 is also cylindrical but of larger diameter than the pilotpart and its outer periphery is preferably knurled for good grasp by amechanies hand. The tool body 24 is in its rear also provided with arecess 32 which within the handle part 30 is cylindrical and continuesinto the pilot part 28, in this instance as a transverse groove 34(FIGS. 4 and 5).

The wire brush assembly 26 comprises in this instance a wire brush 36the bristles 38 of which are held in a binding 40, and a brush carrierin the exemplary form of a plunger 42 having a reduced end 44 in whichthe wire brush is firmly anchored with its binding 40. The wire brushassembly 26 is located in the recess 32 in the tool body 24, with thewire brush 36 extending through an aperture 46 in the tool body to theoutside thereof. The brush assembly 26 is guided in the tool body 24 formovement radially of the axis x. To this end, there is mounted in thetool body 24 a bracket 48 having a guide slot 50 in which is slidablyreceived a peripherally grooved part 52 of the plunger 42. Furtherguidance is afforded to the brush assembly by the groove part 34 of therecess 32 in the tool body in which the reduced end 44 of the plunger 42is received with a sliding fit.

The wire brush assembly 26 is normally urged by a spring 60 into theoperative position in FIG. 5 in which the bristles 38 of the wire brush36 project outwardly from the pilot part 28 of the tool body to themaximum permissible extent as determined by engagement of the plunger 42with the endwall 62 of the guide slot 50 in the bracket 48. The spring60 is in this instance anchored on a post 64 in the tool body 24.

For replacement of a gasket 20 with a new gasket, the old gasket isremoved from the coupling member 10, whereupon the annular groove 13 iscleaned. To clean this groove 18, a mechanic will insert the tool 22with its pilot part 28 into the cylindrical opening 14 in the couplingmember while holding the plunger 42 retracted against the force of thespring 60 so as to hold the bristles of the wire brush 36 within theperipheral confines of the pilot part 28. In thus inserting the pilotpart 28 of the tool into the coupling member 10 until the face 66 of thehandle part 30 bears against the front face 12 of the coupling member,the wire brush 36 will be in alignment with the annular groove 18 in thecoupling member and the mechanic may then release the plunger 42 forspring-urged projection of the wire brush into the groove 18. Themechanic will then turn the tool a number of times until the groove isclean and then remove the tool from the coupling member.

The bound wire bristles 38 are preferably bunched rather closely into abrush which is of a cross-sectional size to enter the annular groove 18in a coupling member with a somewhat loose fit, and is of greater lengththan the maximum depth of the groove 18. Further, the wire brush 36 inthe groove 18 in a coupling member is by the bottom of this groove keptfrom its maximum permissible outward projection (FIG. 5) so that thespring 60 then puts the wire brush, and hence also its bristles 38,under longitudinal compression under which these bristles tend to bulgeoutwardly into substantial form-fit with the groove 18. The bristlesthemselves are formed of preferably rather stiff and only slightlyresilient wire. With these preferred bristles, and with the wire brusharranged as described, a relatively strong spring so may be used tospread the brush into engagement substantially with the entire sidewalls of the groove 18 in :1 coupling member with sufficient tightnessto have a good scraping action on these side walls, and the same strongspring will also force the ends of the wire bristles 38 into firmengagement with the bottom of the groove so that they will have a highlyaffective scraping action thereon. Thus, in keeping the wire brush 36and the spring 60 at these preferred parameters, a mechanic needs toturn the tool only for a short time in order assuredly to clean thegroove 18 in a coupling member completely.

While it is preferred to provide a spring for normally urging the wirebrush 38 into maximum outward projection, it is fully within the purviewof the invention to omit this spring and permit the mechanic, whileturning the coupling member relative to the tool in this case, to exerton the plunger 42 whatever outward pressure the mechanic may find bestfor cleaning the groove.

What is claimed is:

1. A tool for cleaning an annular gasket-seating groove in a cylindricalopening in the front face of a coupling part, comprising a body with anaxis and a rear end and having a cylindrical front portion about saidaxis crosssectionally dimensioned for slide-fit insertion into, androtary support in, the cylindrical opening in a coupling part, with saidbody also having in its rear end a recess extending into saidcylindrical body portion, and an aperture leading from said recess tothe outer periphery of said cylindrical body portion; and a wire brushassembly including wire bristles and being guided in said recess formovement substantially radially with respect to said axis, with saidassembly being movable with said bristles in said aperture into and fromoutward projection from said cylindrical body portion, and said assemblybeing accessible at the rear end of said body for manual move ment.

2. A tool as in claim 1, which further provides a preloaded spring insaid recess for normally urging said assembly with said bristles intooutward projection from said cylindrical body portion.

3. A tool as in claim 1, in which said wire bristles are bunched forinsertion into the annular groove in a coupling part with asubstantially loose fit.

4. A tool as in claim .3, in which said assembly is moveable with saidwire bristles into further outward projection from said cylindrical bodyportion than it could in full projection into the annular groove in acoupling part, so that on movement of said assembly with said bristlesinto full projection into the annular groove in a coupling part with aforce to compress said wire bristles longitudinally the latter will beforced into substantial formfit with the annular groove.

5. A tool as in claim 4, which further provides in said recess a stopengaged by said assembly in said further outward projection of said wirebristles from said cylindrical body portion, and a preloaded spring insaid recess normally urging said assembly into engagement with saidstop.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,195,308 8/1916 Whidden 15-104.Z2,174,214 9/1939 Quinn 1516O 2,229,084 1/1941 Horne 15104.2X 3,088,1505/1963 Sweeney 15-160X PETER FELDMAN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.15-104.1, 2G0

